Sometimes you just need a Hall of Famer or two to set the tone for a young team. Luckily for the Broncos, they happen to have a couple.

Champ Bailey and Brian Dawkins twice turned the tide Sunday in a game that could have turned the Broncos’ season into a rolling stone had it gone the other way.

Frankly, why anybody throws at Bailey anymore is something of a mystery. Just ask Tony Romo.

“Sometimes you have no choice (but) to go to Champ,” said Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, who drove his team 64 yards on its first possession Sunday before throwing the ball Bailey’s way in the red zone.

“He’s a great player. We respect him. He’s one of the best of all time. Really, if anything, it was just a poor throw.”

Hasselbeck had his team rolling, converting three third downs as it marched down the field. From the Broncos’ 16, he tried a little misdirection. With the play apparently going left, he turned back to loft a pass to Deion Branch the opposite way. Good plan, except the cornerback on Branch happened to be the 32-year-old Bailey, who rose up to grab the 47th interception of his career.

“Last year, Dallas tried him, what, seven times in a game,” said Dawkins. “I love the fact that they do that, going toward Champ, knowing the Hall of Famer that he is, and he steps up and rises to the occasion.”

Not long afterward, it was Dawkins’ turn. Again, the interception came in the red zone, this time after the Seahawks had driven 52 yards. Hasselbeck thought tight end John Carlson had a step on the veteran Broncos safety, who turns 37 next month. In fact, it was all part of the plan.

“To be honest with you, that was something we practiced, that route in that particular area,” Dawkins said. “Saw it, let him get ahead of me just a little bit to see if I could bait the throw. He tried to put it in there and I was able to hold on to it. Give that one to Wink, Wink and Ed, for recognizing the route and having us practice it.”

That would be Broncos defensive coordinator Don Martindale and secondary coach Ed Donatell. Those plays, along with a muffed Seahawks punt return, gave the Broncos all the momentum they needed to even their record at 1-1.

Dawkins, whom linebacker Mario Haggan calls the undisputed leader of the defense, had been harping on the turnover battle since the Broncos lost it 2-0 in Week 1 at Jacksonville.

“He challenged all of us in the secondary today, and I think everybody answered the bell,” safety Renaldo Hill said.

“However it happened, we gave up a couple of scores last week and that’s not us,” Dawkins said. “That’s not the way we do things. That’s not the way we practice and, coming into the season, that’s not what we thought of one another. So I just put a challenge out there for us to do our job better than we did last week and not allow those balls into the end zone.”

If it was particularly sweet for Dawkins to grab his 37th career pick in space, he didn’t let on. For about the past five years, critics have been saying he’s lost a step. He can still hit, they say, but you don’t want him in pass coverage.

“You know what? It is what it is at this point,” Dawkins said. “Whenever I don’t make a play, they’re going to always say it’s because of my age. I can’t worry about that. My teammates don’t worry about that.”

The perception isn’t all bad. It helped set up his big play.

“I didn’t think he could get there,” Hasselbeck said of Dawkins’ interception.

Now for the bad news. Bailey left the building on crutches with what appeared to be an injury to his right foot suffered late in the game.

With Peyton Manning and the Colts coming to town next week, the Broncos can only hope he’s a quick healer.

Bailey did not do postgame interviews, but as I was walking toward the Broncos’ locker room in the game’s final minute, he came limping off the field.

“Are you OK?” I asked him.

“I hope so,” he said, stepping gingerly.

The Broncos’ other starting corner, Andre Goodman, also suffered an injury Sunday. He politely declined an interview request before limping out of the locker room with a wrap on his right knee.

If the Broncos are missing their starting corners against Manning, it could be quite a trial by fire for backups Nate Jones and Perrish Cox.

But that’s a worry for the coming week. When the team needed to get back on track Sunday, its two most storied players made it happen.

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